WWE Evolve – 6/11/25

Hey, folks! It’s me! It’s me! It’s that S-O-N-I-Single C, back with another edition of that WWE show without iguanas, Gunther, or fake mobsters. It’s time for Evolve!

When we last left our developmental newborns, we crowned the first Men’s Evolve Champion, and his name is Jackson Drake. That’s a pretty big deal for a WWE ID signee not yet under contract and something that probably gives hope to his landing an NXT deal sometime soon. I like the dude. He’s a bit on the small side, but his work is smooth and crisp. He knows his way around the ring for a youngin, and his nickname is “The Carolina Reaper,” which I think is pretty dope. I know a guy whose nickname is “His Fatness,” and I must say being named after a pepper hits better. I know we’ve got another WWE ID talent, Cappuccino Jones, taking on Wes Lee, tonight, which should be pretty good. What else is there? Let’s find out!

We are, as always, in the boiler room at the PC. Your hosts are Peter Rosenberg and Robert Stone, with Chuey Martinez on interview duty.

Then. Now. Forever. Your niece was named after a porn star?

We recap last week’s Men’s title four-way to start. The strengths of all four guys were nicely shown here, I must say. I missed the shove to Je’von, and the subsequent stare, last week. Maybe that leads to something. Who knows. The opening sequence has also been changed in order to place the Vanity Project in that final spot.

…..and here is the Vanity Project, and your FIRST WWE Evolve Champion, to start the show. Everyone is wearing short-sleeve striped button-ups, including Zayda. That’s some 1991 Tommy Hilfiger-looking nonsense right there. Is that really back in style? Did preppy me really once wear that? Swipe Right boasts about how they’ve taken over NXT, calling themselves “Stand and Deliver Main Eventers.” Zayda tells the men to stop drooling, although it’s probably not because of her, but dehydration from being sequestered here for so long. These are the things we blame other countries for doing. Jackson finally takes the mic and namedrops Buddy Rogers, Finn Balor, and Seth Rollins as fellow first-time champs. They pose. That was effective, particularly the intensity shown by Jackson.

Lince Dorado is backstage, in a suit jacket, because he sticks with the classics. That shirt underneath should have a stiffer collar to it if he’s going to truly look dapper. Lince is going to take the Vanity Project down but needs two hermanos to do it. My hopes for a stuffed iguana tonight have gone up about 0.2%.

Zayda is still in the ring, and I guess she’s got a match, a tag team match, coming up. If the thought of a Zayda Steel match isn’t enough for you, her tag team partner is Nikkita Lyons. Nikkita has a corset over her regular clown attire.

After break, and, while those two workhorses are in the ring, Cappuccino tells Wes Lee not to sleep on him, while Jack Cartwheel is person number four who doesn’t know how to dress themselves tonight. Fire whoever runs wardrobe for this show.

ZAYDA STEEL AND NIKKITA LYONS VERSUS MASYN HOLIDAY AND LAYLA DIGGS

Wasn’t Diggs supposed to be BFF with Aria Bennett when this all started? Robert Stone watches them dance and namedrops Salt N Pepa’s “Shoop,” with Peter Rosenberg audibly lowering his head in shame. Diggs and Zayda start, and they trade nonsense, with a cartwheel by Layla in there somewhere, before she tags in Masyn. Zayda with the hair pull she learned in Marigold before she tags in Nikkita, who also does jack nothing. Some simple double-teaming, and a sitting drop kick by Zayda, get two. Diggs with more flipping, then hitting a powerslam on Zayda for two. Masyn gets distracted by Nikkita, Zayda with a codebreaker, and Nikkita with the kicks and strikes, which weren’t bad, to be honest. More double-teaming ensues. Nikkita wears down Masyn with the chinlock, but misses the charge into the corner,. Zayda misses the same, and the HOT TAG is made to Layla Diggs, who honestly hits the best scissors kick I may have ever seen, like the rose that grew in the concrete. Layla and Masyn double-team Zayda, and a standing frog splash by Masyn is broken up by Nikkita. Chantel (Still) Monroe is out to distract Layla and Masyn, though, which allows Nikkita to hit a kick from the outside, and Zayda puts a foot on the ropes for the pin.

WINNERS: ZAYDA STEEL AND NIKKITA LYONS

MATCH GRADE: C – I’ll be generous here, as the match wasn’t badly laid out, and there were some individual highlights here which do raise an otherwise pedestrian match.

Zayda: C-, and that’s mostly for still adding a little “cheat to win” in the the end there. Otherwise, it was the standard really simple and boring stuff from her.

Nikkita: C+ – I’ve never been a fan, but this wasn’t her worst performance. The strikes and kicks in the corner looked very good, and I think it’d be pretty smart for her to lean on that A LOT more in her repertoire.

Masyn: C+ – This is probably our longest look at Masyn and, while all aspects of her game need a lot of work, she did show a fair amount of presence in there. It’s VERY early with her, but tonight was a step up.

Layla: C – I’d say it was pretty ho-hum, but there were a couple of points there where there was some pretty work. The height on that scissors kick was impressive, better than I’ve seen any main roster talent hit it with. She’s been around a bit too long on the bottom floor for me to have too much hope, but this wasn’t awful.

Nikkita and Zayda celebrate, while Chantel’s all “wasn’t me.” We need more Shaggy on the radio.

Troy Yearwood vignette. He talks about writing poetry. “Roses are red, violets are blue, and when I take over Evolve, I’m coming for NXT too. “ I like you, Troy. I really do. That stunk. For some reason, this ends with him changing his name to Jamar Hampton. I applaud WWE’s efforts in calling people by their preferred names. Hopefully, they did a Pornhub search on that one.

Natalya is backstage, and gets confronted by Kali, who didn’t need her help last week. Kali needs to swallow her pride because they’re facing Zayda and Nikkita next week.

Jamar Hampton is out to music that sounds like “Let Me Blow Ya Mind” by Eve and Gwen Stefani. 2000’s hip-hop pop is probably right on brand for this guy. It’s gettin hot in he-eah….

JAMAR HAMPTON VERSUS IT’S GAL

Those don’t seem like legitimate gold medals around Gal’s neck. They tie up to start. Gal asks for the test of strength, which doesn’t go well for him until he stomps on Jamar’s foot. Jamar with a shoulder tackle, then a side headlock, reversed into a headscissors (while doing push-ups) for Gal. Jamer slams Gal and does push-ups himself on his back. Nice vertical suplex by Jamar gets reversed into a SLAP by Gal, who then crotches Jamar over the top. Gal goes after the leg, and points to his head. That never works, although his fortunes don’t immediately change afterwards. Discus clothesline by Gal gets two. Jamar’s selling is solid here. You’ve got to give him that. Half Boston crab by Gal. Jamar gets out, but back to some punches from Gal. A charge into the corner gets reversed into a German suplex by Jamar. Jamar, selling the leg, gets to work with a right hand, belly-to-back suplex, and BIIIIIIG back-body drop. Jamar can’t get him over his shoulders, though, and Gal gets back in control. Was that an out-of-nowhere AA by Jamar, though? Yes, it was, and for three.

WINNER: Jamar Hampton

Match Grade: C – Again, nothing offensive for the level which they’re at, but this was another very DEVELOPMENTAL match. Obviously, It’s Gal, the more experienced of the two, carried this well.

Jamar: C- – Jamar continues to be a top student at the Apollo Crews School of Really Athletic Dudes with No Charisma. It’s just so early here with him. His selling was very good throughout, though, which gives me hope that he’ll eventually blossom.

Gal: C – It’s all “this is cute on the indies” so far with him. He certainly is comfortable in the ring and can draw some decent heel heat. I’m just not sure there’s much of a ceiling.

Peter makes a crack as to Robbie E to Stone, because we can talk about TNA any time we want now. The dude who looks like Odyssey Jones is in the crowd again. Who am I kidding? These people sleep there.

Chuey interviews Marcus Mathers, and they talk about WWE ID being the start of his dream. Mathers sees his dream of main-eventing Wrestlemania, and he’s going to make sure he does it. I like these folks dreaming big. That should be everyone’s stated goal right now.

Jordan Oasis has everything he needs in life in his backpack. He’s gone from sleeping on sidewalks to sleeping in arenas. Jordan may be a backpacker, and he may be homeless. I’m not sure after that promo.

Next week, the aforementioned Natalya/Kali versus Zayda/Nikkita Match happens.

Jones brings an obvious Venti to the ring, and I don’t mean Jack Cartwheel, who is barely a Grande.

Time for our main event!

CAPPUCCINO JONES (WITH JACK CARTWHEEL) VERSUS WES LEE (WITH THE HIGH RYZE)

Detail I’ve never heard: Jones is from “Coffeeville, Kansas.” Going to have to look that up later. Tie-up into an armbar by Jones, and they trade side headlocks. Le gets out of it, hits some strikes, but Jones gets a headscissors out of the corner. Nice dropkick by Jones, and Lee gets his bell rung. The crowd with a “Cappuccino” chant, as Wes goes outside. Jones with a tope with a double-shot of hilo to the outside as we go to break. When we return, they’re back in the ring, and Lee is back in control. A couple of low dropkicks from Lee, and he brings Jones outside for more damage before rolling him back in. There’s no VIP section anymore, which saddens me and is a bad decision, as just having say, Draco Knox sitting out there, works in showing the fans “hey, that’s someone else you may see in the coming weeks.” Jones fights black, but Lee with a crescent kick for two. This mostly mat-based match is not playing to anyone’s strengths here, while Peter dogs Frank Thomas by mentioning he’s only in Viagra commercials. Man, that is some shade being thrown at the Big Hurt. Jones comes back with some roll-ups and kicks. Chops, a clothesline, and half-nelson suplex from Jones for two. Michinoku Driver also gets two. Lee is begging off in the corner before Tyson and Tyreek come in to distract. This leads to Cartwheel taking out both guys, and all three getting kicked out. Lee hits a tornado DDT, and knees to the face get two. Lee lands on his feet on a 450, and Jones lands the Decaffienator for two. Well, his finisher only got two, so we know where we’re headed here. Froggy Bow by Jones misses. Lee with the roll-up, but the ref catches Lee’s feet in the ropes. Jones with an almost three. Big kick to the back of the head by Lee, and the Cardiac Kick connects for three, because of course.

WINNER: Wes Lee

MATCH RATING: B- – It certainly wasn’t bad, but I don’t think they trusted Jones to keep up with Lee’s usual high speed and impact and offense here, and the result was something a bit more grounded than you’d expect. The ending was obvious, though, and they need to shake things up with these ID dudes eating pins.

Jones: C- – I didn’t see much, to be honest. I felt like the match was dumbed down a bit for him, and the high impact moments aren’t anything which separates him from the pack yet. The gimmick is fun, but that’s his carrying card right now.

Lee – B+ – Immaterial, obviously, as Lee’s an experienced vet. I have no idea what he’s doing down here, though, and he certainly wasn’t bringing his A-game against this opponent.

High Rize return to the ring and hold up Lee’s hand in victory while Peter hits every coffee pun possible on the recap. Lee is the gatekeeper. Someone should check with Lexis King on that.

OVERALL RATING: C- Certainly much more on the developmental end this week, but this show’s been streamlined to a fault these past few weeks. The loss of the VIP section, and at least giving some of the very green talents an opportunity to learn their character, was fun. Where’s Haze Jameson getting drunk with the fans? That random energy is direly missed right now. Some decent stuff is being pushed forward with Kali and Natalya, as well as whoever Lince recruits versus the Vanity Project, at least.

Enjoy your evening, folks.